CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Complete Course & Practice Exam vs Magoosh GMAT Prep

The course covers all five SY0-701 exam domains across 264 modules and 31 hours of video, spanning General Security Concepts, Threats and Vulnerabilities, Security Architecture, Security Operations, and Security Program Management. Reviewers on OpenCourser and Reddemy consistently praise the structured domain breakdown, acronym walkthroughs, and the alignment with official CompTIA exam objectives. The main content gap flagged by multiple learners is limited hands-on lab simulation — the course is predominantly lecture-based, which can make performance-based question (PBQ) preparation less thorough than the actual exam requires.

Jason Dion brings over 20 years of IT and cybersecurity experience to the course and is consistently described by reviewers as easy to follow, thorough, and amiable. OpenCourser reviewers Victor Cabrales and Mark Guillen both called out his clear explanations and acronym-focused teaching style as the course's standout feature. He holds CompTIA Platinum Partner status, and Dion Training's 4.6+ star network-wide rating across 2 million+ students reinforces his reputation as one of the most reliable certification prep instructors in the field.

The course is almost always available on Udemy for $13–$20 during the platform's frequent sales, a price point that Reddemy commenters repeatedly highlight as exceptional for 31 hours of content plus practice materials. One Reddemy user noted purchasing both the course and the separate practice exam set for approximately $13 each during a sale. At that price, Dion's course delivers one of the lowest cost-per-hour ratios of any paid Security+ preparation resource, with lifetime access and periodic content updates included.

Multiple reviewers who passed SY0-701 on their first attempt credit Dion's course as their primary preparation resource, including John T. (Medium), who passed in under two months with no prior cybersecurity background. The course's exam-focused framing maps tightly to Security+'s five domains and the career skills they represent — threat analysis, security architecture, and incident response. However, the lecture-only format and absence of hands-on labs mean learners entering cybersecurity roles will need additional practical experience beyond what the course alone provides.

Like most Udemy courses, learner support is limited to the platform's Q&A section — there is no live instructor interaction or direct email support. One Reddemy user flagged a structural navigation issue, noting difficulty jumping directly to specific domains without watching the course sequentially. Response times in the Q&A section are generally adequate for a high-enrollment course, but learners who need real-time feedback or personalized guidance will need to seek supplementary communities such as the r/CompTIA subreddit.

Magoosh GMAT Prep covers all three GMAT Focus Edition sections — Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights — across 340+ short on-demand video lessons, and the curriculum was rebuilt after the Focus Edition replaced the classic GMAT on February 1, 2024. The Quant content is the standout: GMAT Club reviewers (Aabhash777, BelronMajes, GMATking94) repeatedly praise it for teaching from the basics and deriving formulas "from root level" rather than asking students to memorise. The consistent content weakness is Verbal, which multiple reviewers call "old," in need of "refurbishment," and structurally confusing with no continuity. Data Insights coverage exists but several students wanted more practice volume there given how central DI now is to the Focus Edition. The slideshow-with-voiceover format is instructionally sound but, as Test Prep Insight notes, "lacks production value."

The lessons are anchored by long-time Magoosh GMAT expert Mike McGarry, whose Quant explanations are described as crisp, well-organised, and conceptually grounded. Reviewers on GMAT Club call the videos "clear, concise" and "easy to consume," and students specifically credit the instruction with teaching strategic shortcuts they would not have found alone ("their lessons were phenomenal and they greatly helped me figure out strategic shortcuts"). The format is voiceover-over-slides with no instructor on screen, which several reviewers find effective but visually flat compared to Manhattan Prep or TTP. The Verbal teaching draws the most criticism: GMATking94 said the "Verbal course seems very old and needs refurbishment," a recurring theme that pulls the instructor score below the Quant-only ceiling it would otherwise reach.

Value is Magoosh's single strongest dimension and the near-universal reason reviewers recommend it. Premium GMAT access runs roughly $199 for 6 months or $249 for 12 months — about one-third the price of Kaplan (~$1,000) and Princeton Review (~$800), and a fraction of premium platforms like TTP or e-GMAT. Payment plans start around $54. GMAT Club reviewers repeatedly use the exact phrase "bang for buck," and Test Prep Insight rated the course 9.1/10 calling it "the best bang for your buck in GMAT prep." A 12-month access window, a 4.5-rated mobile app, a free 7-day trial (30+ lessons, 30 questions), and a tiered score guarantee all reinforce that a low price does not signal a thin product. For budget-conscious or first-attempt test-takers, the value case is hard to beat.

The course includes 1,300+ practice questions, each paired with both a text and a video explanation — a genuinely distinctive feature, since most prep companies do not film an explanation for every single problem. A custom practice tool lets students build targeted quizzes by topic and difficulty. The limitations are real and frequently cited. There are only 2 full-length practice tests, and they are generated from the same question pool as the drills, so heavy users hit repeated questions (reviewer whatsarc flagged "repetitive practice questions"). Several students wanted "more questions in quant," more Data Insights items, and additional mocks. Some also found the Verbal questions diverge from real GMAT difficulty (BelronMajes: "Verbal questions differ significantly from actual test"). It is enough to learn on, but most reviewers pair it with the Official Guide and free official mocks.

Magoosh's own review page documents seven student entries with gains of +100 to +250 points, landing final scores of 700–730, with quotes like "over the last few months, Magoosh improved my score from 490 to 710." The company advertises an average improvement of roughly 90 points and backs a tiered guarantee: up to a 70-point increase for baseline scores below 630, 50 points for 640–690, and 10 points for 700+, or your money back. GMAT Club reviewers report concrete gains of +40 to +140 points and final scores from the high-500s (Focus scale) up to 760 (11Karan, +50). The caveat is honest: the strongest gains cluster around Quant, and a minority flagged the in-product score predictor as inaccurate, so the headline averages should be read as outcomes for committed self-studiers, not guarantees for everyone.